Williams's Negotiations with the Indians. Ingratitude of the Massachusetts Colony. March of the French Army to Providence. Massachusetts people, Mr. Williams informed the latter of the fact. They solicited his mediation, and, forgetting the many injuries he had received from those who now needed his favor, he set out on a stormy day, in a poor the rough canoe, upon bay, and through many dangers repaired to the cabin of Canonicus. The Pequots and Narragan For most unworthy Svant Williams Roger ROGER WILLIAMS'S SIGNATURE,1 sets were already assembled in council. The former threatened him with death, yet he remained there three days and nights. "God wonderfully preserved me," he said, " and helped me to break in pieces the designs of the enemy, and to finish the English league, by many travels and changes, with the Narragansets and Mohegans against the Pequots." This alliance we noticed in the last chapter. Notwithstanding this great service, the Massachusetts court would not revoke Williams's sentence of banishment. Let us now close the volume for a time, and visit other places of historic interest. Leaving the Seekonk, we walked to the site of the encampment of the French army in the autumn of 1782, while on its march to Boston for embarkation. It had remained in Virginia after the battle of Yorktown, in the autumn of 1781, until the summer of 1782, when it joined Washington and his army on the Hudson. The place of its encampment there was near Peekskill. The order and discipline of this army, and its uniform respect for property-the soldiers not even taking fruit from the trees without leave-were remarkable, and on their march northward Rochambeau and his officers received many congratulatory addresses. The army remained at Peekskill until October, when it commenced its march for Boston, going by the way of Hartford and Providence. Count de Rochambeau accompanied it to the latter place, where he took his leave of the troops 1782. and returned to Washington's head-quarters. The army had received orders to sail to the West Indies in the French fleet of fifteen sail of the line and four frigates, then lying in the harbor of Boston, in the event of the evacuation of New-York or Charleston by the British. The Baron de Viomenil was ordered to accompany the troops as commander instead of Rochambeau. The latter, with several other officers, returned from Rhode Island to Virginia, and at Norfolk embarked for France. October 22, 1 ROGER WILLIAMS was born in Wales, in 1599, and was educated at Oxford. He became a minister in the Church of England, but his views of religious liberty made him a non-conformist, and he came to America. Bold in the annunciation of his tenets respecting the perfect liberty of mind and conscience, he was banished from Massachusetts, and planted a colony at the head of Narraganset Bay, now the city of Providence. In 1639 he embraced the doctrines of the Baptists, and being baptized by one of his brethren, he baptized ten others. Doubts as to the correctness of his principles arose in his mind, and he finally concluded that it would be wrong to perform the rite of baptism without a revelation from Heaven. The Church which he had formed was accordingly dissolved. He went to England in 1643, as agent for the colony, and obtained a charter, with which he returned in September, 1644. This charter was granted on the 14th of March, and included the shores and islands of Narraganset Bay, west of Plymouth and south of Massachusetts, and as far as the Pequot River and country, to be known as the PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. He landed at Boston, but was not molested on account of being under sentence of banishment, for he brought with him recommendatory letters from influential members of Parliament. He went to England again for the colony in 1651, where he remained until 1654. He was chosen president of the government on his return, which office he held until 1657, when Benedict Arnold was appointed. In 1672 he held a dispute with the Quakers for three days at Newport, of which he wrote an account.* He died in April, 1683, aged eighty-four years. 2 At Philadelphia, a deputation of Quakers waited upon Rochambeau, and one of them, in behalf of the others, said, "General, it is not on account of thy military qualities that we make thee this visit; those we hold in little esteem; but thou art the friend of mankind, and thy army conducts itself with the utmost order and discipline. It is this which induces us to render thee our respects." * The title of the pamphlet containing the account (which was published in 1676) was, "George Fox digged out of his Burrows," it being written against Fox and Burrows, two eminent Quakers. An answer to it was published in 1679, entitled “A New En gland Fire-brand Quenched." The French Troops at Providence. Site of the Encampment. Remains. Departure of the French from Boston. The French troops arrived at Providence in November, and to give color to the pretext that they marched eastward to go into winter quarters, made excavations, in which to find protection from the cold, instead of pitching their tents, as a moving army would do. The object was to allow the expedition to the West Indies-where a brisk naval warfare was in progress between the French and British-to remain a secret even to the suspicions of the English. After remaining about a fortnight at Providence the troops marched toward Boston, where they arrived early in December. On the 24th of that month the French fleet sailed from Boston for St. Domingo, with all the troops except Lauzun's legion, the army having been in the United States two and a half years.' The place of the encampment at Providence is in a field of cold, wet land, rough and rocky, a mile and a half east-northeast from Market Square in the city. It lies on the northeast side of Harrington's Lane, at the head of Greene Lane, which latter runs parallel with Prospect Street. We passed on our way along the brow of Prospect Hill, whence we had a fine view of the city and surrounding country, including northward the spires of Pawtucket, and southward the blue waters of Narraganset Bay. The encampment was on the western slope of the northern termination of Prospect Hill. Several shallow pits and heaps of stones, with some charcoal intermingled (the remains of the temporary dwellings of the French soldiers), are yet to be seen. It was a sheltered position, and favorable for a winter encampment 1848. HOPKINS'S MONUMENT. The ground is full of small surface springs, which, with the wash from the cultivated hills above, will soon obliterate every trace of the encampment. About a quarter of a mile westward of the camp ground is the "North Burying-ground," belonging to the city. It has been beautified within a few years by graveled foot-paths and carriage-ways, fine vaults, handsome monuments and inclosures. Its location is such that it may be made a beautiful cemetery, though small. Not far from the south entrance is a marble monument about nine feet high, erected to the memory of Stephen Hopkins, for a long time colonial governor of Rhode Island, and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. On the southern side of the obelisk is the name of HOPKINS in large letters. The inscriptions are upon three sides of the pedestal." In the northeast part of the burial-ground is a granite ob 1 Soon after their arrival, Governor John Hancock and the Council gave a public dinner to the commanding general, Viomenil, and his officers, and to the commander of the fleet, Vaudreuil, and his officers. The Magnifique, a French seventy-four gun ship, one of the fleet, having been lost in Boston Harbor by accident, Congress, in testimony of their sense of the generosity of the French king, had resolved, more than three months before (September 3), to present the America, a seventy-four gun ship, to the French minister, the Chevalier de Luzerne, for the service of his king.-See Journals of Congress, viii., 343. 3 The following are the inscriptions: NORTH SIDE."Sacred to the memory of the illustrious STEPHEN HOPKINS, of Revolutionary fame, attested by his signature to the Declaration of our National Independence. Great in council, from sagacity of mind; magnanimous in sentiment, firm in purpose, and good as great, from benevolence of heart, he stood in the first rank of statesmen and patriots. Self-educated, yet among the most learned of men, his vast treasury of useful knowledge, his great retentive and reflective powers, combined with his social nature, made him the most interesting of companions in private life." WEST SIDE."His name is engraved on the immortal records of the Revolution, and can never die. His titles to that distinction are engraved on this monument, reared by the grateful admiration of his native state in honor of her favorite son." SOUTH SIDE.-Born March 7, 1707. Died July 13, 1785." A biography and portrait of this venerated patriot will be found among those of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, in another part of this work. The fac-simile of his signature here given is a copy of his autograph in my possession, attached to the commission of Captain Ephraim Wheaton, issued in June, 1761. Mr. Hopkins was then Governor of Rhode Island, and in that capacity signed the instrument. It is attested by HENRY WARD, secretary. Mr. Ward was one of the delegates from Rhode Island to the Governor Cooke's Monument. La Fayette's Head-quarters. Roger Williams's Spring. elisk erected to the memory of Nicholas Cooke, who was Governor of Rhode Island from 1775 until 1778, and an active and efficient patriot until his death, which occurred before the independence of his country was secured by treaty.' GOVERNOR COOKE'S MONUMENT. His biography is briefly inscribed upon his monument in the following words: 66 NICHOLAS COOKE, born in Providence, February 3d, 1717; Died September 14th, 1782. Unanimously elected Governor of Rhode Island in 1775, he remained in office during the darkest period of the American Revolution. He merited and won the approbation of his fellow. citizens, and was honored with the friendship and confidence of Washington." This is the inscription upon the east side, immediately above which, in raised letters, is the name CooкE. On the west is the following: "Hannah Sabine, relict of Nicholas Cooke, born in Killingly, Connecticut, March 13th, 1722; died in Providence, March 22d, 1792." This monument is about twenty feet high, composed of a single block. The sketch of it here given is from the cemetery, looking eastward, and includes in the distance the French camp-ground just mentioned. The most remote of the two fields seen between the trees on the right, is the one wherein the remains of the encampment are to be seen. On the road leading from the cemetery to the town is a brick building, with a hip-roof, which La Fayette occupied as head-quarters, while in Providence a short time in 1778 He had been sent by Washington with two thousand men to assist Sullivan in the siege of Newport. The house is well preserved, but changed somewhat in its external appearance On our way into the town we passed along Benefit Street, on the east side of which, in a vacant lot, upon the slope of a steep hill, near the mansion of the father of Governor Dorr, is a living water-fountain, called Roger Williams's Spring. Tradition asserts that here, in the cool shade of sycamores (of which the huge trees that now overshadow it are the sprouts), Williams first reposed after his journey, and that here his first tent was pitched, at twilight, on a beautiful evening in June. It is a pleasant spot now, even with the pent-up city around it; it must then have been a delicious resting-place for the weary exile, for below him were the bright waters of the Narraganset, beyond which arose the gentle slopes and more lofty hills of the fair land of Canonicus, his friend and protector. "Stamp Act Congress" in 1765. This signature of Hopkins exhibits the same tremulousness of hand which is seen in that attached to the Declaration of Independence, written fifteen years afterward, and is a proof, if evidence were wanting, that it was not the effect of fear, but "shaking palsy," that makes the patriot's sign-manual to our National Document appear so suspiciously crooked. StepHopkins SIGNATURE OF STEPHEN HOPKINS. 1 Mr. Cooke was deputy governor in 1775. When the Assembly, or House of Magistrates of the colony, voted to raise an army of fifteen hundred men, Joseph Wanton, then the Governor of Rhode Island, his deputy, and others in the government, were opposed to the measure. The people were displeased, yet Wanton, who had been chief magistrate since 1769, was rechosen governor in May; but, failing to appear and take the prescribed oath, the Assembly directed that the deputy governor should perform the duties of chief magistrate. Mr. Cooke became convinced that the warlike measures of the Assembly were correct, and entered heartily into all their views. Wanton appeared in June, and demanded that the oath of office should be administered to him, but, as he had not given satisfaction to the Assembly, his request or demand was no complied with. Ꭱ Ꭱ Old Tavern in Providence. Its Associations. Destruction of Tea in Market Square. Rhode Island Historical Society of the people; and Within the city, on the east side of Market Square, stands the old tavern, with mossgrown roof, where many a grave and many a boisterous meeting were held by the freemen of the Providence Plantations during the Stamp Act excitement, and the earlier years of the war of the Revolution. There the Sons of Liberty met and planned their measures in opposition to the British many excited audiences have crowded Market Square, in front of it, to listen to patriotic speeches The people of Providence, and particularly the matrons and maidens, cheerfully acquiesced in the demands made upon their self-denial by the non-importation agreements, and foreign tea was discarded as if it had been a poisonous drug. In 1773, the same balcony were read the proclamation announcing the accession of George III. to the throne in 1760; the odious Stamp Act in 1765; the bill for its repeal in 1766; and the Declaration of Independence in 1776. That balcony seemed to be the forum when it was ascertained that the ships of the East India Company, heavily laden with tea, were about to sail for America, the people of Providence were among the first to express their disapprobation; and on one occasion the town crier, with a drum, patroled the streets in the evening, announcing that a bonfire of tea would be made in Market Square at ten o'clock at night, and requesting those who possessed and repudiated the article to cast it upon the heap. At the appointed hour the square was crowded, and the old tavern front and its neighbors were brilliantly illuminated by the glow of the burning tea, aided by other combustibles, while shouts long and loud went up as one voice from the multitude. This was but a prelude to the united and vigorous action of the people when the war notes from Lexington aroused the country; and until the close of the contest Providence was a "nest of rebels against the king." OLD TAVERN IN PROVIDENCE. I concluded the labors and pleasures of the day by making the above sketch, and in the evening attended, by invitation, a meeting of the Rhode Island Historical Society, over which Albert G. Greene, Esq., presided, the venerable president, John Howland, then ninety-one years of age, being absent. Their rooms are in a small but convenient building near Brown University, and contain about five thousand volumes of books and pamphlets, many of them very rare. The meeting was one of much interest, especially to Rhode Islanders, for Professor Gammel, of the University, made a verbal communication on the subject of important manuscripts concerning the early history of New England, which are in the British colonial office. He imparted the gratifying intelligence that J. Carter Brown, Esq., of Providence, This view is from the market, looking north. The building stands on the east side of the square, and parallel with its front commences North Main Street. In the yard on the right is a venerable horse-chestnut tree, standing between the house and the Roger Williams' Bank. In former times, a balcony extended across the front. The door that opened upon it is still there, but the balcony is gone. The roof is completely overgrown with moss, and every appearance of age marks it. 2 On the 12th of June, 1769, twenty-nine young ladies, daughters of the first citizens of Providence, met under the shade of the sycamores at the Roger Williams' Spring, and there resolved not to drink any more tea until the duty upon it should be taken off. They then adjourned to the nouse of one of the company (Miss Coddington), where they partook of a frugal repast, composed in part of the "delicious Hyperion,' A tea of domestic manufacture-See note on page 481 Valuable Manuscripts. A telescopic Peep at the Moon and Stars. 1848 Bryant's "Song of the Stars." Voyage to Gasper Point. with an enlightened liberality worthy of all praise, had made arrangements to have all the manuscripts in question copied at his own expense, under the direction of Mr. Stephens, the eminent agriculturist, then in Europe.' The manuscripts relate to New England history, from 1634 to 1720, and consist of more than four hundred pieces, about two hundred and fifty of which have special reference to the Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Among them is a minute account of all the transactions relating to Captain Kidd, the noted pirate. Already two thousand four hundred pages of copies, beautifully written by one hand, on vellum foolscap, had been forwarded to Mr. Brown, a few of which were exhibited by Professor Gammel. Moon and stars were shining brightly when we left the Society's rooms, and afforded a fine field of view through a large telescope that was standing under the porch of the college. The professor having it in charge kindly allowed me a glance at our celestial neighbors. The moon was gibbous, and brilliant as molten silver appeared its ragged edges. Saturn was visible, but the earth being upon the plane of its rings, they could not be seen. Some double stars, even of the seventeenth magnitude, were pointed out; and over the whole field of view, those distant worlds, that appear like brilliant points to the unaided vision, were seen glowing in all the beautiful colors of the emerald, the ruby, the sapphire, and the topaz While gazing upon them, it seemed to me as if "Their silver voices in chorus rang, And this was the song the bright ones sang. "Away! away! through the wide, wide sky— Each sun with the worlds that round it roll; "Glide on in your beauty, ye youthful spheres, To the veil of whose brow our lamps are dim." BRYANT'S "SONG OF THE STARS." October, 1848. On the morning of the 21st, I procured a sort of pinnace, and a boatman to manage it, and with a stiff, cold breeze from the northwest, sailed down the Narraganset Bay to Gaspee Point, a place famous in our Revolutionary annals as the scene of a dar ing act on the part of the people of Rhode Island. The Point is on the west side of the bay, about six miles below Providence, and consists, first, of a high jutting bank, and then a sandy beach stretching into the bay, almost uncovered at low tide, but completely submerged at high water. The bay is here about two miles wide, and the low bare point extends at least half a mile from the bank, its termination marked by a buoy. The naviga tion of this section of the bay is dangerous on account of the sand-bars, and also of submerged rocks, lying just below the surface at low water. Two of them, in the vicinity of Field's Point, are marked by strong stone towers about thirty feet high, both of which are Mr. Brown is a son of Nicholas Brown, whose liberal endowment of the college at Providence, and active influence in its favor, caused the faculty to give his name to the institution. It is called Brown University. * The northern portion of the bay is quite narrow, and from the Pawtuxet to its head is generally called Providence River. |